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The
doctrine or philosophy declared by the Buddha is known
as Buddhism. It is not a religion or a system of faith
or worship. Buddhism starts from the point of reasoning
or understanding. It does not advocate any prescribed
system of ritual and worship or supplication of deities
or gods. It is distinguished and different from other
systems of "religion." |
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was at Isipatana in the deer park at Benares (Sarnath)
that the fully enlightened one has established the supreme
kingdom of truth. At the deer park, Isipatana, he addressed
the five monks and set in motion the wheel of truth.
This was the beginning of Buddhism in India. |
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| The
Buddha Shakayamuni or Gautama Buddha founded Buddhism
between the 5th and the 6th centuries B.C. Buddhism
is regarded as one of the three major and most widespread
religions in the world. The teachings of the Buddha
are given in the Tripitaka or the three collections,
namely, Vinaya-pitaka or the collection of discipline,
Sutra-pitaka or the collection of discourses and Abhidharma-pitaka
or the collection of metaphysics. The theme of these
three pitakas is the development of the three higher
trainings of discipline, concentration and transcendental
knowledge respectively while their prime function is
to cure the three poisons of desire, anger and delusion. |
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Spread of Buddhism in Asia:-
From
the 3rd century A.D, Buddhism began to spread outside India.
King Ashoka played an important role in popularizing and spreading
Buddhism outside India. In 250 B.C, Mahinda and Sanghamitta,
son and daughter of King Ashoka, made Buddhism popular in
Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. This was the first time that Buddhism
made its presence felt outside India. Somewhere around the
3rd century A.D. onwards, Buddhism spread to Burma or Myanmar,
Cambodia, China and Indonesia. Buddhism went to Korea from
china in the 4th century A.D, to Japan from Korea in 522 A.D,
to Thailand from Burma in the 6th century A.D. and to Tibet
in the early 8th century A.D.
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Decline
of Buddhism in India :-
For
centuries, Indian kings and wealthy merchants patronized Buddhist
monasteries and made huge donations besides raising many structures
in the memory of Buddha. In fact, archaeological findings
have revealed that the ancient city of Nalanda in India was
a world center for Buddhist philosophy and religion in the
13th century. However, the advent of the Turkish invaders
changed it all. They destroyed most of the monasteries situated
in the plains that soon led to the disappearance of Buddhism
in India. As a result, Buddhism only survived in the independent
Himalayan kingdoms of Bhutan and Sikkim besides some pockets
of the tribal areas in northeast India.
Many
attribute the disappearance of Buddhism to the shifting
of royal patronage to Hindu religious institutions. It is
also said that Buddhism always had to struggle against the
dynamic Hindu intellectual schools that triumphed in the
end. As Buddhists started adopting the popular religious
forms, there came a slow but steady amalgamation of ideas
in the two religions. This again contributed greatly to
its disappearance from India.
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| Re-emergence
of Buddhism in India :-
Buddhism
made a comeback in India during the early 20th century. The
foundation of the Mahabodhi Society was a major step in this
direction. During the Dalit agitation of 1956, BR Ambedkar
announced that he was converting to Buddhism to escape the
rigors of the Hindu caste system. As a result, many other
people from the lower castes were inspired to adopt Buddhism.
The influx of Tibetan refugees in 1959 also raised the number
of Buddhists in India. Thus Buddhism is the fifth largest
religious group in India now. |
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